Privacy Policy

American Adoptions Privacy Policy

1. Collected Information.

This Privacy Policy describes how American Adoptions, Inc. (“American Adoptions,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, protects, and shares information from users of American Adoptions’ websites, applications, software, email newsletters, subscriptions, social media, or any of American Adoptions’ digital properties (the “Services”). By using the Services, you consent to our collection, use, disclosure, and retention of your information as described in this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use, which is incorporated herein.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ANY PART OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY OR THE TERMS OF USE THEN YOU MAY NOT USE ANY OF THE SERVICES.

2. Online Privacy Policy Only.

This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected through the Services and not to information collected offline or via email, mail, fax, telephone, or in any other way.

3. What information do we collect?

American Adoptions may collect certain information about you when you use the Services. Depending on how you interact with the Services, the information collected may vary, and may include:

Personal information, such as your name, email address, mailing address, age, and phone number;
Account information, such as your username or password (or anything else that identifies you) used to access or use the Services;
Information collected through automated methods, such as, without limitation, geolocation and wifi data, cookies, beacons (“pixels”), or Flash cookies, which identify an individual computer’s browser or other information about a website user when entering a website or using the Services. Cookies compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction and allow the site to track that browser’s movement through the site over several sessions. Usage of a cookies is in no way linked to any personal information on the Services; and
Any and all other information that you choose to provide when you interact with or use the Services.

4. American Adoptions Forum.

Any personal information you reveal or post on our public forums may be collected, shared and used by us, by other users, and by third parties, for purposes including contacting you. Information you give out or post on our public forums is disclosed at your own risk.

5. Limited Disclosure of Information.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties for monetary or financial consideration, nor have we done so in the preceding 12 months.

We may disclose personal information to third parties in order to perform services requested or functions initiated by you. In addition, we may disclose personal information in order to identify you in connection with communications sent through the Services and for analytics and marketing purposes.

We also may share information, including personal information, that we collect as needed to enforce our rights; protect our property; protect the rights, property, or safety of others; or as needed to support external auditing, compliance, and corporate governance functions. We will disclose personal information as we deem necessary to respond to a subpoena, regulation, binding agency order, legal process, governmental request, or other legal or regulatory process. We may also share personal information as required to pursue available remedies or limit damages we may sustain.

We may also disclose your personal information for various administrative purposes, as allowed by law.

We may transfer information, including your personal information, in connection with a merger, sale, acquisition, or other change of ownership or control by or of us or any affiliated company (in each case whether in whole or in part).

We may release your information, including your personal information, if it is necessary to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others’ rights, property, or safety. We may provide aggregate data and information to third parties to describe how our customers are using the Services. We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc., which collects information on users’ activity while using the Services, including how often you access the Services, what pages you access, cookies and other information collected through automated methods such as the URL page that you are visiting, the name of the app you are using (if applicable), and your IP address. We use the information provided by Google Analytics to improve our Services.

Except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, as required by law, or pursuant to your consent, we do not transfer to outside parties your personal information. We sometimes retain the services of third parties to perform functions or services on our behalf, including website visitation and data aggregation; third-party earned and paid media and related promotional services; hosting; data analysis; responding to specific requests; and to send notices, offers, and solicitations that may take the form of U.S. mail, telephone calls, email, and other methods of contact.

6. Use of Information.

Any of the information we collect from you may be used for various purposes, including in one or more of the following ways:

Register new users of the Services;
Facilitate and process requests made through the Services;
Operate and improve the Services;
Provide users with offers for services, including offers based on variables such as stated and anticipated interests, personal characteristics, or location;
Evaluate eligibility of users for certain services;
Evaluate the types of offers or services that may be of interest to users;
Provide customer support, including to our Business Partners;
Communicate and provide additional information that may be of interest to users about American Adoptions and our Business Partners, such as American Adoptions news, special offers, announcements, and marketing materials;
Send reminders, technical notices, updates, security alerts, support and administrative messages service bulletins, or marketing messages;
Provide advertisements through the Services, email messages, text messages, or other methods of communication;
Administer surveys, contests, or other promotional activities or events sponsored by us or our Business Partners;
Manage our everyday business needs such as Website administration, forum management, fulfillment, analytics, fraud prevention, enforcement of our corporate reporting obligations, and Terms of Use;
Comply with applicable law such as to prevent fraud or monitor against theft, comply with legal obligations and American Adoptions policies, establish, exercise, or defend against legal claims, and monitor and report compliance issues; and
Perform other commercial activities as needed or described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Use.

7. Protection of Information.

We safeguard your personal information using appropriate administrative, physical, and technical measures typical of those used in our industry. However, neither we nor anyone else can guarantee the security of information, whether on or off the internet. To the greatest extent allowed by law, we are not responsible for any security incident involving your data, including the unauthorized actions of our employees, service providers, or unaffiliated persons. You are responsible for maintaining the security of any password, user ID, or other form of authentication involved in obtaining access to password-protected or secure areas of the Services. In order to protect you and your data, we may suspend your use of any of the Services, without notice, pending an investigation, if any breach of security is suspected. Access to and use of password-protected or secure areas of the Services are restricted to authorized users only. Unauthorized access to such areas is prohibited and may lead to criminal prosecution.

No security system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee that the personal information you provide will not be disclosed or intercepted.

8. Ads and Third-Party Links.

The Services may include or offer third-party products or services (“Third-Party Services”). These third parties have separate and independent privacy policies. We have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of any linked third-party websites. Ads appearing on our Website may be delivered to users by third parties, who may set cookies. This Privacy Policy covers information collected by American Adoptions and does not cover information collected by any third parties.

A link to any Third-Party Service does not mean that American Adoptions endorses it or the quality or accuracy of information presented on it. If you decide to visit a Third-Party Service, you are subject to its privacy policy and practices and not this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to carefully review the legal and privacy notices of all digital services that you visit.

9. Notice to Residents of Countries Outside the United States of America.

American Adoptions is headquartered in the state of Kansas in the United States of America. Any information we collect may be accessed by us or transferred to us in the United States or to our affiliates, Business Partners, or service providers elsewhere in the world. By utilizing the Website, you consent to this transfer. We will protect the privacy and security of Personal Information according to our Privacy Policy, regardless of where it is processed or stored.

10. Children.

Consistent with the requirements of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, we do not knowingly solicit or collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 without parental consent, unless permitted by law. If we learn that we have received information directly from a child without parental consent, we will delete information provided by the child in accordance with applicable law and American Adoptions’ Terms of Use.

11. “Do Not Track” signals.

At this time, there is no consistent industry standard concerning what websites should do in response to “Do Not Track” signals. Thus, we do not currently take any action in response.

12. California Residents.

If you are a California resident, you can request a notice, free of charge, disclosing the following information collected by American Adoptions:

The categories of personal information American Adoptions collects, uses, discloses, and sells about you;
The categories of sources from and specific pieces of personal information that American Adoptions collects and retains about you. This does not include information that is collected for a single, one-time transaction that is not retained by American Adoptions or information that is not maintained in a manner that would be considered personal information.
The categories of your personal information that American Adoptions discloses to third parties for a business purpose.

You also have a right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information and a right to request that American Adoptions delete personal information collected from you. Except as otherwise provided by law, American Adoptions will delete any of your personal information, and will direct any of its service providers to delete any such information upon your request.

You may submit requests pursuant to California law by dialing 1-800-ADOPTION or clicking on this link: privacy.terms@americanadoptions.com. An authorized Agent may make such a request on a consumer’s behalf by dialing 1-800-ADOPTION or clicking on this link: privacy.terms@americanadoptions.com.

American Adoptions will provide information or comply with your request only upon receipt of a verifiable consumer request. American Adoptions may require that you provide certain information, such as your name, account information, or other information to verify your request. American Adoptions will not provide personal information to a consumer more than twice in a 12-month period. The disclosure will cover the 12-month period preceding American Adoptions’ receipt of the verifiable consumer request.

American Adoptions collects the following categories of information via the Services:

Category of Source: Pregnant – Request Adoption Information
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Maintaining or Servicing Accounts
  - Providing Services
  - Providing Advertising Services
  - Provide information to users to decide if adoption and our program are right for you
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Identifiers such as name, email address, phone number, and address
  - Customer records information
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law, such as race, gender, and age
  - Biometric information
  - Additional Comments
Category of Source: Adoption Information
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Maintaining or Servicing Accounts
  - Providing Services
  - Providing Advertising Services
  - Provide information to users to decide if our programs are right for you
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Identifiers such as name, email address, phone number, and address information
  - Customer records information
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law
  - Biometric information
  - Inferences
  - Education information
  - Professional or employment related information
  - Medical information
Category of Source: Account log in page
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Maintaining or Servicing Accounts
  - Providing Services
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Username
  - Password
Category of Source: Password Reset Request
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Maintaining or Servicing Accounts
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Username
  - Email address
Category of Source: Google Analytics, Google Ads
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Analytics services and marketing
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Internet or other electronic network activity information
  - Geolocation data
  - Inferences
  - Identifiers such as number of users and sessions
  - Customer records information
  - Commercial information
  - Session duration
  - Operating systems
  - Device models
  - Number of times pages were viewed
  - How long on average users stayed on web pages
  - Search query performed

American Adoptions collects the following categories of information by other methods:

Category of Source: Preliminary Application
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Providing Services
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Identifiers such as name, address, phone number, email
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law such as date of birth, gender, race, religion
  - Professional or employment related information
  - Education information
  - Credit card number, expiration date, CVV
Category of Source: Preliminary Application for Returning Families
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Providing Services
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Identifiers such as name, address, phone number, email
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law such as date of birth, gender, race, religion
  - Professional or employment related information
  - Education information
Category of Source: Biological Mother’s Social/Medical History
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Providing Services
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Identifiers such as name, address, phone number, email, social security number, emergency contact information, marital information, driver’s license
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law such as date of birth, gender, race, religion
  - Professional or employment related information
  - Education information
  - Native American Heritage Information
  - Possible biological father’s information
  - Biometric information such as height, weight, blood type
  - Previous children information: name, date of birth, gender, birth weight, race, relationship to baby, length of pregnancy
  - Prenatal care and hospital information
  - Medicaid and health insurance information
  - Arrest and criminal history
  - Health history of biological mother
  - Medications and drugs taken during pregnancy
Category of Source: Biological Father’s Social/Medical History
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Providing Services
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Identifiers such as name, address, phone number, email, social security number, emergency contact information, marital information, driver’s license
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law such as date of birth, gender, race, religion
  - Professional or employment related information
  - Education information
  - Native American Heritage Information
  - Possible biological father’s information
  - Biometric information such as height, weight, blood type
  - Previous children information: name, date of birth, gender, birth weight, race, relationship to baby, length of pregnancy
  - Prenatal care and hospital information
  - Medicaid and health insurance information
  - Arrest and criminal history
  - Health history of biological father
  - Medications and drugs taken within last five years
Category of Source: Child’s Social/Medical History 0-6 months of age and Child’s Social/Medical History 6 months of age and older
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Providing Services
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Identifiers such as name, address, social security number
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law such as date of birth, heritage, gender, race, religion
  - Possible biological father’s information
  - Biometric information such as height, weight, blood type, hand dominance, descriptive information
  - Pregnancy and birth information
  - Child’s health information and medications, healthcare facility, doctor’s name and information, immunization status, diagnoses
  - Medicaid and health insurance information
  - Health history of child
Category of Source: Pre-Birth – Birth Father Statement
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Providing Services
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Identifiers such as birth mother name
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law such as marital status
Category of Source: Post Birth – Birth Father Statement
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Providing Services
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Identifiers such as birth mother name, child’s name
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law such as date of birth
Category of Source: Application for Exception
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Providing Services
  - Applying for an exception to join the agency
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Identifiers such as name, address, phone, email
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law such as race, religion, age, gender
  - Education
  - Occupational information
  - Medical bills, living expenses, and support: medical insurance information, living expenses
  - Birth mother medical history
  - Birth parent drug and alcohol usage
Category of Source: Hospital Plan
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Providing Services
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law
  - Medical information
  - Identifiers such as birth mother name, name of visitors and relationship
Category of Source: Pregnancy Related Living Expenses
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Providing Services
- Categories of Information Collected:
  - Medicaid or insurance information
  - Monthly bills – lease, utility bills, phone bills, etc.
  - Income sources
  - Housing, transportation, personal, and medical costs

American Adoptions discloses the following categories of information:

Third Parties: Google Analytics, Google Ads
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Analytics services and marketing
- Categories of Information Disclosed:
  - Identifiers
  - Internet or other electronic network activity information
  - Geolocation data
  - Inferences
  - Number of users and sessions
  - Session duration
  - Operating systems
  - Device models
  - Number of times pages were viewed
  - How long on average users stayed on web pages
  - Search query performed
Third Party: Mouseflow
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Analytics services and marketing
- Categories of Information Disclosed:
  - Internet or other electronic network activity information for a user's session
  - Geolocation data
  - Session duration
  - URLs of pages visited in a session
  - Operating systems
  - Device models
  - Web browsers
  - Scroll behavior
  - Links and page elements clicked
Third Party: Zuko
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Analytics services
- Categories of Information Disclosed:
  - Web form analytics
    - Number of completions and abandonments for form fields
    - Time it takes to complete each form field
Third Party: American Family Media
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - Marketing
- Categories of Information Disclosed:
  - All categories of collected information
Third Parties: American Adoptions may share your information with adoption, legal, healthcare, and other professionals involved with the adoption process with your consent.
- Categories of Commercial or Business Purpose:
  - To provide adoption services
- Categories of Information Disclosed:
  - All categories of collected information

Except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, American Adoptions does not disclose your personal information for any business purpose, nor has it done so in the preceding 12 months. American Adoptions does not have actual knowledge that it sells the personal information of consumers under 16 years of age.

American Adoptions will not discriminate against a consumer because the consumer exercised any rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, including but not limited to: denying goods or services to the consumer, charging different prices or rates for goods or services, providing a different level or quality of goods or services to the consumer, or suggesting that the consumer will receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

13. Nevada Residents.

As stated in this Privacy Policy, American Adoptions does not sell your personal information. Nevertheless, Nevada residents may send a request to opt out of the sale of personal information to the address under the “Contacting Us” section, below or by calling this toll-free number: [number]. American Adoptions may ask you to verify your identity after receiving such a request.

14. Terms and Conditions.

Please also visit our "Terms of Use" establishing the terms and conditions of your agreement in order to use the Services as well as disclaimers, mandatory arbitration, class waiver, and limitations of liability governing the use of our website. The Terms of Use are incorporated into this Privacy Policy.

15. Your Consent.

By using our site, you consent to this Privacy Policy and American Adoptions’ Terms of Use.

16. Changes to Our Privacy Policy.

American Adoptions may change its Privacy Policy from time to time and in American Adoptions’ sole discretion. We encourage visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to our Privacy Policy. If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes on this page. Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be effective upon the revised Privacy Policy being publicly available for viewing at the Services; the date the Privacy Policy was last revised is posted at the end of this Privacy Policy.

17. Contacting Us.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about the Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy, or the practices of this Website, you can contact us at: privacy.terms@americanadoptions.com or by phone at 1-800-ADOPTION.

You may also contact us by mail at:

American Adoptions

National Offices
7500 W 110th St.
Suite 500
Overland Park, KS 66210

Revised: November 18, 2020

Disclaimer
Information available through these links is the sole property of the companies and organizations listed therein. American Adoptions provides this information as a courtesy and is in no way responsible for its content or accuracy.

Request Free Information